


Bella Brunch

by aliciameade



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: F/F, Holiday Fic Exchange, Merry Pitchmas Gift Exchange 2020, Post-Pitch Perfect 2, Relationship Reveal, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:47:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28232661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aliciameade/pseuds/aliciameade
Summary: Merry Pitchmas! This is a gift forear_monstrosities/cenestpasmoi-bechloeon tumblr.Beca and Chloe decide it’s time to come out as a couple to their best friends, Aubrey and Stacie. Little do they know, their friends have an announcement, too. PP3 doesn't exist.
Relationships: Chloe Beale/Beca Mitchell, Stacie Conrad/Aubrey Posen
Comments: 8
Kudos: 127





	Bella Brunch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ear_monstrosities](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ear_monstrosities/gifts).



“Maybe I should have prepared my last will and testament first.” Beca can see the way her hands are trembling with nerves as she pours orange juice from a plastic pitcher into a fancier glass one Chloe had insisted they use. “We should reschedule.” She pitches her voice up so Chloe can hear her from the bathroom where she is finishing her makeup.

“No way, José,” Chloe calls back and Beca sighs as she puts the glass pitcher into the fridge to keep cold and puts the plastic one in the dishwasher. Her dishwasher. Now, technically—officially— _their_ dishwasher. “You promised, remember?”

Beca looks up as she closes the dishwasher’s door to see Chloe leaning in the doorway to the kitchen. For a moment she forgets what she was nervous about; it’s hard to think about anything else for a few seconds whenever Chloe walks into the room. She’s gotten better at recovering over time, but she’s not sure she’ll ever be completely unfazed by it.

She’s not sure if she wants to be completely unfazed by it.

She whines and stomps her foot petulantly because she knows it will work in making Chloe pout her lips, give her puppy eyes, and cross the room to wrap her arms around Beca’s waist and kiss her. They’re tried-and-true tactics to convince Beca to do things and they both know it.

Beca doesn’t mind that she’s such a pushover when it comes to certain things. She knows that if she genuinely wanted to protest Chloe would hear her out but this is just nerves.

“Fine,” she grumbles against Chloe’s lips which tighten into a smile before they soften and kiss Beca with more tenderness until they do what they always do and part so her tongue can slip across Beca’s lower lip to gain entrance to her mouth.

It does wonders to calm Beca. Chloe has always had a way of making her feel grounded. Stable. They kiss, slowly and comfortably, for a minute or two until the doorbell interrupts them.

She whines again as Chloe laughs and pulls back to answer the door. “I’m a little nervous, too, but it’ll be fine; they’re our friends, remember?”

“I think you and I have very different definitions of ‘friends,’” Beca grumbles and follows Chloe out to the living room but veers left to claim her usual spot on the couch. She catches and acknowledges Chloe’s wink before trying (and failing) to distract herself with her phone.

Chloe’s giddy squealing further interrupts her attempts at distraction and she hears greetings exchanged at the front door before the excited chatter grows in volume until she’s forced to look up at the figures looming in her periphery.

“Beca!” Stacie greets as she plops onto the couch next to Beca to immediately pull her into a sideways hug that Beca participates in by shrugging a shoulder.

“Hey, man,” she responds and glances up from her phone long enough for Stacie to feel acknowledged. Her eyes slide to the right at the two shadows standing in front of them: Chloe and Aubrey, elbows linked. “Aubrey.”

“Beca,” Aubrey says with a nod.

Their contempt for one another is long-buried but they’ve retained the cold greetings out of tradition. Aubrey always did love a tradition.

“Bree, come help me in the kitchen?”

Beca’s heart picks up as she watches Chloe lead Aubrey to the kitchen. She knows Chloe isn’t going to tell Aubrey anything without her, but she might grease the wheels a bit in advance of what’s meant to transpire during this reunion brunch.

“I realize Chloe posts every waking moment of your lives on Instagram,” Stacie says, jostling Beca as she unwinds the awkward embrace to settle more normally on the couch, “but I don’t care. Tell me what the hell you’ve been up to for the past year?”

Beca catches herself before her eyes widen incriminatingly. Instead, she offers a, “You have no idea, dude,” and a smile. She’s not referring to the story she shares about a rap star calling her “decent” over drinks at an A-listers-only restaurant.

Stacie will get the better story soon enough.

* * *

“Your place is so cute!” Aubrey says with a smile as she waits, hands held out, for Chloe to give her something.

“Thanks!” Chloe beams as she hands Aubrey the orange juice and a bottle of champagne from the fridge. “You’re on mimosa duty,” she explains somewhat unnecessarily, but she’s always extra chatty when she’s nervous. “And we like it,” she says, going back to Aubrey’s comment. “You know, Beca got that big contract and was able to get something decent—”

“Decent,” Aubrey sniffs, though Chloe knows she means nothing bad by it.

“And I was in that shithole apartment—dining room’s this way,” she points before leading Aubrey out of the kitchen and down the short hallway to the table Beca had done a very nice job setting, “and it’s not like this is some eight-bedroom mansion but there’s more than enough space for two people, especially after we shared that place in Brooklyn with Amy—I mean, this _is_ a mansion compared to that, right? You can prep those over there,” she says with a nod toward the sideboard already set up with crystal flutes and a wine chiller filled with ice. “And one night I was bitching about how the elevator in my building never worked and how the super gave me the creeps and Beca said I could move in.”

  
She’s acutely aware that she’s rambling. Her nerves snuck up on her after being so confident going into today and Aubrey is apparently content to listen to her story and is offering very little in ways out of the conversation. She manages to hold her tongue long enough to place the tray of fresh croissants and bowl of fruit salad on the table.

The loud pop of the champagne bottle’s cork startles her already raw nerves and her hand knocks over an empty water glass with a clatter as it knocks into the silverware. She hears Beca’s voice, though—a whoop of a cheer alongside Stacie’s, presumably in response to the cork popping—and she’s able to right the glass and take a breath.

“And now you and Beca live together,” Aubrey says as she sets the opened bottle next to the glasses. Chloe knows she’s going to wait to pour them until they’re ready to sit. “Again,” she adds as she turns. The word is paired with a tight smile that makes Chloe’s nerves kick right up again but not because she’s scared; she recognizes that smile.

Aubrey’s nervous about something, too.

Chloe’s mind races about what it could possibly be as she tries to distract them both, gesturing for a return to the kitchen to fetch more of their brunch: bacon that’s keeping warm in the air fryer (Beca’s going to take egg orders momentarily; she’s always been the expert egg-maker), butter, jams, jellies, and yogurt. Aubrey doesn’t ask about their living arrangements again and her apprehension has managed to silence Chloe, at least about that topic.

From the kitchen, she watches Beca on the couch with Stacie talking as old friends do. For being the nervous one earlier, Beca definitely seems to be the one more at ease now that the moment’s arrived. “Hey, Bec, we’re about ready,” she says as she hands Aubrey a glass pitcher that matches the one used for the orange juice. “You can be on water duty, too,” she says, working to get the tension out of her face.

“That’s my cue,” Beca says, hands slapping her thighs before she hauls herself off the couch to her feet. “How do you want your eggs? Still over-easy?” she asks Stacie and though Chloe can’t quite make out the response over the noise from the water running as Aubrey fills the pitcher in the sink, she assumes it’s something mildly inappropriate if the way Beca’s rolling her eyes and smiling as she turns away to head toward the kitchen.

Beca meets Chloe’s eyes as she rounds the corner into the kitchen and lets her hand brush Chloe’s hip as she passes her to get to the fridge. “What about you, Aubs? Poached?”

“If it’s not too much trouble.”

“Nah, I can do them with my eyes closed by now.” Beca leaves it unspoken the number of times she nursed all of them back to health after late nights and too many shots of hard liquor.

“Thanks,” Aubrey says as she turns off the faucet. “B-R-B.”

Chloe watches Aubrey head back toward the dining room and releases the breath she didn’t realize she was holding.

“You okay?” Beca says with a glance over her shoulder at her loud exhale.

Chloe nods and rolls her shoulders. “Something’s up with Bree,” she says quietly. She watches Beca at the stove arranging the pots and pans she’d already set out, knowing exactly what she’d be cooking today. It’s calming watching her work. She likes watching Beca do anything.

She hears Beca hum as she cracks eggs into sizzling skillets—Chloe knows she’s making scrambled for herself and a pair of sunny-side-up for Chloe, in addition to Stacie’s over-easy and Aubrey’s poached. She has all four burners going.

Chloe could never manage without burning something or breaking a yolk. She doesn’t even know _how_ to make a poached egg.

“Like what?” Beca’s question is innocuous enough and she’s grateful for that as she notices Stacie pass the kitchen’s entrance heading in the direction of the dining room.

Chloe uses the promise of a few seconds of distance to step close, much closer than roommates would be. She needs the connection and she sighs when Beca tilts her hip into Chloe’s. “I don’t know.” She keeps her voice low. “She’s all tense like she has bad news.”

“Maybe she’s going to tell us she’s fucking Stacie.”

Chloe is ill-prepared for such a comment and she almost chokes on the laugh that bubbles up. “Please.”

“Yeah, I mean, it would be weird for two people who have lived together well into their twenties to be secretly dating, right?” Beca looks at Chloe when she says it and chances a quick peck to Chloe’s lips. “Can’t imagine anyone having that kind of a secret.”

Chloe can’t help but chuckle and rest her head against Beca’s for a second before putting an acceptable amount of distance between them. “You were so nervous before they got here. You’re okay now?”

“Oh, no, I’m one hundred percent about to pit out,” she says as she lifts her elbows. “I knew I wore black for a reason.”

“Maybe because it makes up half your wardrobe?”

She can see Beca’s smile as she works at the stove. She’s quiet for a few seconds until she turns off the burners with a series of clicks. “We’re really about to do this, huh?”

Chloe nods. “It’s time.”

* * *

“A toast, before we dig in.”

Beca looks up from her as-yet-untouched plate to, unsurprisingly, find Chloe with her mimosa already poised in the air. She knows this isn’t how it’s going to happen, not right this second, but her heart races nonetheless because the real purpose of this get together is looming with a significant sense of inevitability.

She lifts her glass, as do Aubrey and Stacie, and asks, “And to what are we toasting?”

“To change,” Aubrey answers with a biting quickness that noticeably surprises the rest of the table.

“To _positive_ change,” Stacie amends after a second or two of awkward silence pass.

The contribution makes Beca’s eyes slide to Chloe’s which are already on her. _Called it._

The high probability that their own grand announcement is going to be matched with another of the same helps assuage Beca’s nerves and she lifts her glass higher. “I’ll drink to that. Cheers!”

The others follow and Beca notes that Aubrey drains nearly half her glass in one go before she places her glass back on the table. She sees Chloe notice the same and scoots her foot over until it rests against Chloe’s beneath the table and relishes the visible effect it has on her girlfriend: the tension melts from her posture and her smile loosens to her natural chipper one instead of the clownish one she’d been forcing.

“So, Stacie,” Chloe starts and everyone takes it as their cue to pick up their forks and start eating, “what’s this submarine thing you’re working on that Bree mentioned the other day?”

Stacie lights up at the question and leans forward conspiratorially. “I can’t really get into details because you don’t have security clearance, but let’s just say we’ll be going deeper than ever before.” She winks as she says it, in true Stacie form.

“Gross,” Beca says under her breath, in true Beca form, and it makes the table laugh, breaking the tension until their conversation flows naturally again, the underlying nerves seemingly forgotten.

That is, until well into their third round of mimosas, a tipsy Chloe reaches across the corner of the table to grab Beca’s hand where it rests on the table as they laugh about some absurd story Stacie’s sharing.

It’s an innocuous enough thing for Chloe to do but the connection seems to remind both of them of the goal today and their laughter subsides with an obvious quickness.

It’s Chloe and her champagne-fizzy brain who is able to suddenly say, “We actually need to tell you guys something.” And then, at the wide-eyed faces that stare back at them, “It’s nothing bad. I mean, I hope it’s not bad. No, it’s definitely not bad. Just...different! A change, really. Positive change!”

“Is everything okay?” Stacie asks and Beca knows they’re being stared at but Beca, a little fizzy herself, can only stare at Chloe right now.

“Yeah, yes!” Chloe says. “Totes okay. Uh, yeah, I guess I’m just going to come out and say it. Unless, Bec, unless you want to—?”

The invitation makes Beca gulp. “What? Dude—”

“Stacie and I are dating.”

The silence that follows is underscored by the upbeat pop playlist Beca had compiled as background music for today’s brunch and her focus shifts from Chloe to Aubrey who just blurted out exactly what Beca had joked about not two hours earlier. She thought it would be funny. She didn’t think she was actually _right._

“Uh, wow, way to rip the Band-Aid off,” Stacie says with a nervous laugh as she tucks her hair behind her ears.

“Sorry, I couldn’t handle the anxiety anymore,” Aubrey says with a groan, head falling to her hands, clearly embarrassed and disappointed with herself.

Beca glances at Chloe who seems dumbfounded, which Beca thinks she shouldn’t be given their conversation in the kitchen. Though she can admit to herself it _is_ a surprising revelation nonetheless. This was supposed to be Chloe’s and her moment, their big announcement that they’ve been officially dating for the better part of two years, and something Beca’s been trying to psyche herself up to share for weeks (two years).

Chloe’s silence means Beca has to respond.

“Dude, that’s...awesome!” she manages. It _is_ awesome.

Aubrey lifts her head from her hands; her face is fully blushing. “It is?”

“Yeah, of course it is. You two are great together. Right, Chlo?” She has to nudge Chloe’s foot under the table to get her to respond with something other than the look of a fish out of water.

“Yeah—Yes!” Chloe says, life finding its way back into her demeanor. “Oh, totes. Very yin and yang, you two. I love this.”

Chloe finally acting like Chloe again makes everyone start to relax and Beca picks up her glass for a sip. “So, how long have you two...?”

“What’s it been,” Stacie says, returning to her brunch, “eight, nine months?”

“Eleven,” Aubrey corrects after clearing her throat. 

Stacie looks embarrassed but Beca can tell it’s a ruse. “Shit, I better start figuring out a first-anniversary present.”

“Jewelry,” Beca offers and she can see Chloe subconsciously fiddle with the thin platinum tennis bracelet she gave Chloe on their first anniversary as an official couple. “Can’t go wrong with that.”

“Well, I can’t do that because you suggested it to me right in front of her.” Stacie hooks her thumb toward Aubrey and whispers conspiratorially, as if Aubrey couldn’t possibly hear her. 

Aubrey’s back straightens. “Hey, I like jewelry.” There’s a beat and Beca notices Aubrey noticing Chloe’s fidgeting. “Speaking of—Chloe, I’ve been meaning to ask you about that bracelet. I think I’ve seen you wearing it in every photo you’ve posted since...well, a long time.” She reaches across the corner of the table. “Let me see it?”

Beca hears Chloe’s breath catch and she’s waiting for the questioning look Chloe meets her eyes with, and nods, as Chloe lets Aubrey look examine her bracelet. There’s no secret engraving to be discovered, but it feels as revealing nonetheless.

“Beca gave it to me,” Chloe says with a steady voice. Beca can hear the nerves laced in it but Aubrey and Stacie probably can’t. 

Beca and Chloe both seem to hold their breath, an unspoken, _“Will one of them get it?”_ passing between them.

“A couple years ago,” Chloe continues when there’s not much response other than Aubrey’s praise of the bauble and Stacie craning her neck to get a look at it, too.

“On May 16th,” Beca adds. “So, almost two years ago.”

“That’s oddly specific,” Stacie says with a smile as she plucks a piece of fruit off her fork. She’s chewing when it seems to register, eyes going wide and inhaling so deeply Beca worries she might choke. “Holy shit!”

“What? Are you okay?” Aubrey’s concern is instant, hand on Stacie’s back ready to pat it or leap up and give her the Heimlich if necessary.

Stacie nods and starts laughing, hand up to reassure Aubrey she was fine. “Seriously?” she finally says through a gasping breath.

Her reaction helps Beca relax and manage a laugh. “Talk about stealing our thunder,” she says, reaching for Chloe’s hand to thread their fingers together as they’ve done innumerable times over the course of their life together. “Wanna finish what you started, babe?” she says with a slight lift of their hands because Aubrey’s just looking at the two of them with a somewhat blank, unreadable expression.

“Um, yeah,” Chloe says with a shy smile, her free hand brushing a stray curl away from her face. “So, this is super funny, you guys sharing that with us today. Because Beca and I totes invited you to brunch today to—well, to tell you the same thing.”

And just like that, it’s done and out in the open, and while Beca returns the somewhat salacious grin Stacie gives her, Aubrey’s face changes but remains unreadable, maybe even loses a bit of color. It makes anxiety bubble in Beca’s stomach again.

“Bree? Say something,” Chloe says after a few seconds, apparently seeing the same thing.

Aubrey starts to speak once, twice, and finally on the third attempt says, “I have been stressing out about telling you guys this for months and all this time…?”

Beca had been anticipating her to lash out based on her haunting silence but instead, she sounds...relieved.

“You could have told us any time,” Chloe says earnestly.

“I could say the same,” Aubrey says with a soft chuckle. A beat. Then, “Wow. Well, you guys are together, too! That’s amazing.”

“And about time,” Stacie says against her champagne flute, voice muffled but not enough to go unnoticed.

Beca shoots her a look. “I could say the same thing about you two. You’ve known each other just as long.”

“True,” Stacie says as she sets down her glass. “But _we_ weren’t visibly restraining ourselves from ripping the clothes off each other.”

“No, we didn’t bother restraining ourselves.” Aubrey’s comment is so blasé that it makes everyone at the table bark with laughter, and she’s clearly proud of herself for inciting the reaction.

“Is this where you add something about how you saved the restraints for another time?” Chloe asks, eyebrows high with interest as she pops a piece of torn croissant into her mouth.

The way Stacie shimmies her shoulders is enough of an answer and Beca can’t help but roll her eyes even as she laughs. “I really don’t need that mental image. Thanks, Chlo.”

“So that means no four-way?” Stacie asks. Everyone knows the question is meant in jest. Everyone also knows, because it’s Stacie posing it, that an unspoken, “Just kidding, haha, unless…?” follows it.

Aubrey clicks her tongue disapprovingly. “Stacie.”

“Absolutely not,” Beca laughs.

“Well—” Chloe says at the same time.

“Ooh,” Stacie says with intrigue, leaning forward, closer to Chloe though the table remains between them. “Do go on.”

“No. Chloe? No,” Beca says urgently, tugging the hand she’s still holding to get Chloe’s attention.

She’s bright-eyed and playful when she turns to Beca, leaning in immediately to press a kiss to her lips. It’s the first time they’ve kissed in front of any of their friends from their college years and the poignancy isn’t lost on Beca, though she hides it well. She just offers it to Chloe by way of one small, extra peck to her lips after Chloe pulls back.

“I knew you two would look good together,” Aubrey says; she’s resumed eating and glances at them with a bit of uncomfortable shyness.

_“ Good?”_ Stacie’s gawking and she makes a show of fanning herself. “If they do that in front of me again, I think we’re going to need to revisit my suggestion.”

“Stacie,” Beca says sternly, affecting her best captain’s voice—the one she still keeps in her back pocket and has to use in her professional world now and then—“Chloe and I aren’t going to fuck you. Keep it in your pants.”

Stacie sighs with dramatic defeat and Beca can’t help but be intrigued by Aubrey’s lack of usual...well, everything. She’s not being controlling and hasn’t been compelled to tsk Stacie’s return to flirtation, teasing as it might be. Instead, she’s wearing a small smile as she eats and listens to the conversation.

Beca recognizes the look; it’s one she’s seen on Chloe many times, usually at parties and dinners where people who appear on “Most Eligible…” lists and take home Grammy and Billboard Awards chat Beca up in ways that aren’t solely about their musical professions. She sees it when she looks across the tables or rooms of these parties to find Chloe—her best friend, as far as most of the people of the world know—smiling at her with a look of contentment. Unthreatened. The look of someone who knows they don’t have to be worried because their girlfriend will be going home with them tonight. 

Beca pulls her phone out of her pocket and flicks it open. “I’m gonna send you the contact info for my jeweler.”

Stacie laughs. “Bougie bitch.”

_**The End** _


End file.
